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Steamboat takes fourth straight

John F. Russell

The girls on the Cedaredge tennis team tried, but just like their counterparts from Delta, Paonia and Hotchkiss, the Bruins failed.

To date, no Western Slope tennis team has been able to keep pace with the Steamboat Springs Sailors.

“I think we have higher expectations since we have won so many,” Sailor Stacy Cavanagh said. “I think we are all having fun. You usually have fun when you are playing well, and when you are playing well, you normally win.”



Just two weeks into the squad’s 2004 campaign the Sailors have found a way to win en route to posting a 4-0 record including three clean sweeps.

The team’s most recent wins came last weekend against Delta and Cedaredge.



“Our girls are playing really well as a team right now,” coach John Aragon said. “I was pleased with the level of play, from the junior varsity through the varsity. It was a very good weekend for the entire team.”

The varsity team swept past Delta in a lopsided 7-0 victory in the first match Saturday.

Sailors Kelli Parnell, Hana Illic and Cavanagh picked up wins in the singles portion of the match. In doubles action, Steamboat’s Kristin Toy and Cori Evans; Megan Mooney and Martha Bender; Brittany DeGroff and Rebecca Timmerman; and Tara King and Adele Dombrowski also won.

The second contest of the day turned out to be a repeat performance. The Sailors rolled to another 7-0 win against Cedaredge.

Once again, Parnell, Illic and Cavanagh won matches. Steamboat’s doubles teams also remained perfect for the weekend.

Cavanagh said it was the Sailors’ first chance to play outside on a hard-court surface this season. The squad typically practices inside on a clay surface.

Cavanagh said it took a few points to adjust to the new surface and the blazing sun, but her game kept getting stronger with every serve.

“There is no doubt that this is the soft part of our schedule,” Aragon said. “However, our girls are playing well and I think that will carry over when we face better teams like Glenwood, Aspen and Montrose.”

This weekend, the Sailors travel to Delta for the first tournament of the season. The following weekend, April 2 to 3, could be the team’s first real test. Aragon said the level of competition would be much higher at the Western Slope Tournament in Grand Junction. He expects his team to run into some top-level players in that event.

“We are not really looking ahead to that right now,” Cavanagh said. “If we start looking too far ahead then we will slip.”

–To reach John F. Russell call 871-4209

or e-mail jrussell@steamboatpilot.com


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